Endangered Languages and Cultures

Birrguu Matya, or the game Tapatan

1 August 201131 July 2011 by David Nash

‘A new board game based on an ancient Aboriginal game has just been released by N S W Aboriginal artist Donna Hensen. Called Hunters Tactics,’ reported the Koori Mail 166 (17 December 1997), page 25. ‘Traditionally, the game was played on the ground using sticks, stones or kangaroo dung and was one of many used … Read more

More searching

7 July 2011 by admin

In a previous post I discussed ways in which it is possible to search for materials on endangered languages in various archives around the world (see also Nick Thieberger’s post on how much material doesn’t make it into archives). There is now another tool, namely the Virtual Language Observatory developed by the Max Planck Institute … Read more

Deeply depressing news from the Northern Territory

6 July 2011 by Jane Simpson

Central Australia is home to some of Australia’s few communities where Aboriginal languages are still spoken by children: Warlpiri, Pitjantjantjara, Pintupi and some Arandic languages. For many years they had mother-tongue-medium instruction programs at school, often taught by trained Indigenous teachers and supported by linguists and teacher-linguists. Governmental support for these programs has eroded over … Read more

Visuals of now

3 July 2011 by Jane Simpson

In the early days of this blog, Jenny Green did a really nice post Sand talk – and how to record it which was one of our first posts with – gasp – photos. It showed how she recorded sand stories using 2 cameras and a ladder. Now you can follow the new Central Australian … Read more

History in the making

1 July 2011 by admin

Since 2005 I have been teaching a one Term introductory course each year on Historical Linguistics at SOAS and enjoying it a lot. The students especially like the coverage of semantic change, loanwords, and borrowing and language contact. One of the (standard) topics in this area that I cover is so-called folk etymology and typically … Read more

Gresham College webcasts

30 June 2011 by admin

On 16th June, Nick Ostler, Mark Turin and I participated in a packed symposium at Gresham College in London (founded in 1597 and the capital’s oldest Higher Education Institution — read about its fascinating history here). The Symposium was entitled Rare and Endangered Languages, and the topics of our talks were as follows: Nick Ostler … Read more

What’s a Warrambool?

6 July 201129 June 2011 by David Nash

‘What’s a Warrambool?’ asks ~~one~~ Rob Brennan in Westprint Friday Five 2011.6.24 (Replies from others are now in Westprint Friday Five 2011.7.1.) The usual English dictionaries are no help, not even the AND. Warrambool is a good example of a word borrowed from an Australian language into local English, but which, although well-known in its region, has not spread through Australian English (or beyond!).

Podcasts on SOAS radio

18 June 2011 by admin

Several podcasts about endangered languages are now available from the student-run online radio station SOAS Radio. They include: An interview with Gabriela Perez Baez, curator of Linguistics at the Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Gabriela talks in depth about her experience of researching endangered Zapotecan languages in Mexican and US immigrant communities. Her … Read more

Where are the records?

7 June 2011 by Nick Thieberger

Further to my post about the SOAS Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) holding much less (70 collections) than could be expected given the number of ELDP funded projects (216), I thought it would be interesting to look at archival holdings and the amount deposited in language archives now, after a decade and a half of language … Read more

Iwantja Band launch ‘Palya’

29 May 201129 May 2011 by David Nash

Around the remoter parts of Australia there’s a ferment of contemporary music and Australian languages. I had a taste of this a week ago in Tennant Creek, where I learnt of a freshly released album from Iwantja Band, now on their launch journey (Iwantja Band launch Palya).

cover art for 'Palya' — Cover art for 'Palya'

I caught some of the enthusiasm from Patrick McCloskey, a freelance music producer working with the Winanjjikari Music Centre ((The name is Warumungu, wina-njji-kari ‘sing-Nom-Genitive’; see also WMC’s blog)) at Tennant Creek.

Most of the songs on the album (eg Kungka Nyuntu, Wamanguru) are in Pitjantjatjara / Yankunytjatjara, languages spoken at Iwantja (perhaps better known as Indulkana), some 900km south of Tennant Creek. It suited the band to use a studio not in a city, or in intermediate Alice Springs, but at Winanjjikari in Tennant Creek. And there is more to the mix, as the band’s manager says in an interview: